Hi rollathatrock, welcome to Cruise-Chat. Congratulations on your up-coming cruise. Smoking is allowed in the cabins on most ships. They do a fantastic job in cleaning the room and if you have any problems, all you have to do is tell your room steward and they will strip the room down. They replace the curtains, bedspreads, sheets, pillows, etc. until you are satisfied. The only place that the smell of smoke is really noticeable is in the casino. There are very few designated smoking areas on the ships any more. There is various entertainment geared towards various groups. Usually the commedians target a wide demographic, but there are clubs that are geared to different music genres on board. For your age group, definitely check out the Skywalker Lounge, it's great! Club Fusion is good as well. Of course, there's always the casino. There is a MUTS (movies undere the stars) on board, during the day they show pg rated things and during the evening show feature films. It's really neat to be on board watching a film under the stars. The spa is full service, and the gym has most everything you need, including free weights. I hope you and your girlfriend enjoy Princess as much as we do, their our favorite line, so far. Best wishes for a fantastic cruise and once again, welcome aboard!

One note about the MUTS- They ask the smokers to sit on the upper level so as not to disturb the non smokers. This worked real well for us. We also found the volume of MUTS on some of the Princess ships to be very loud.

Also, I have always cruised under the rule that I would never spend more than $75 per person per day, so I have never had more than an interior room. Except on my last cruise on RC when I was lucky enough to come across an oceanview room that was cheaper than the interior room.

For this cruise I have purchased a balcony room and the total cost came to $2014.XX. That all included fuel surcharge, tax, and insurance. Is that usually normal price for a 7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean with a balcony?

When I went on the Carnival Liberty back in 2006 they had the movies under the stars and it was different in a good way.

Is there any other information on Princess Cruiselines and/or the Princess Crown that I should be aware of.

again thanks in advance

Hi Guy, Glad that there's someone else close by. We've never been on the "new" Crown Princess & can't comment on specifics for that ship or Carnival. I'm sure you'll fine Princess to be more laid back than the Carnival line especially in November when all the retirees & some snowbirds are cruising. We were on the Sun Princess one year in Oct (10 day cruise) & the average age must have been 70 & the next year same ship 1 week later it was a mixed crowd average age of 50. It's a hard shot to call but in general the crowd is more reserved & don't party until early in the morning.
btw- Are you using cruise connection http://www.connect2cruise.com/ or driving to Fort Lauderdale?

If you have doubts about Princess, and you know you like Carnival Liberty, and Liberty is less money, sounds like an easy choice to me. I would think Carnival would be a better choice anyway for somebody who likes to "party hard".